TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1
by Kevin Fall, W. Richard Stevens · first published 2024
65% recommend31% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Thorough, clearly diagrammed walkthrough of IP, TCP, UDP and the protocols beneath them, explaining why things work as they do. Suits programmers and network engineers wanting solid networking fundamentals.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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The classics for learning about network programming is the TCP/IP Illustrated series by W. Richard Stevens: TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Volume-Addison-Wesley-... TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation http://www.amazon.com/TCP-IP-Illustrated-Implementation-Vol/... TCP/IP…
on “Ask HN: Books on network programming patterns?” ↗…training to consume everything you can on the art of writing programs. Read "Test Driven Development" read "Code Complete", read "Design Patterns", read "The Design of the UNIX Operating System", read "TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1", and a book or two on databases. With your training you should be able to skim through those to identify the various "tricky bits" and get a feel for what is and what is not important in this new field…
on “Ask HN: How to transition from academic programming to software engineering?” ↗…creating complex network diagrams, and being able to perfectly talk with all individuals in networking from the non-technical to telco engineers, work as an embedded engineer, network engineer and more. TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1: The Protocols TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 2: The Implementation Network Flow Analysis Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Introduction to Sockets Programming in C using TCP/IP Beej's…
on “Ask HN: What is a good book to learn about the network stack?” ↗If you want to learn about IP, TCP, UDP and some of the protocols below this I would highly recommend reading Richard Stevens book TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols. For two reasons: It's probably one of the best introductions to the subject that has ever been written, and it's a model example of how a technical book should be written. I'd be hard…
on “Understanding IP, TCP, and HTTP” ↗…Advanced Unix Programming and Unix Network Programming are excellent. I'm not sure what you want to work on, so that might not be relevant. For studying how non-trivial things are implemented I like TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 2, and The Design and Implementation of the Freebsd Operating System. One of the things you're going to find about C that's different from higher level languages is that it's so minimal that you're going…
on “Ask HN: What are some good resources for learning C?” ↗TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1: The Protocols. It changed my life because I realised I could better comprehend systems others had already pored over and offer new insights. By comparing the contents of this book to RFCs I was able…
on “Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?” ↗I'll just second the Stevens book (TCP/IP Illustrated, volume 1). But get a used copy of the first edition, NOT the second edition that was desecrated by that other author, it's awful. Although the first edition is decades out of date, it still does a great job…
on “A TCP/IP Tutorial (1991)” ↗Doing Bayesian Data Analysis Interesting topics: MCMC, Gibbs Sampling F# for C# Developers This book seems to leave lot out in order to simplify but good starting book nonetheless TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols, Second Edition I wanted to know what really "connection" means. This book has answer. An Introduction to R I guess everyone dealing with data should know R, right? Here's my Amazon…
on “Ask HN: What's the best programming book you've read recently?” ↗Agreed. The sheer brilliance of clarity in the classic TCP/IP Illustrated: Volume 1 - The Protocols only becomes visible in hindsight. Anyone know if the the LaTeX source for its diagrams are available? I have been able to emulate them for the most part in graphviz using shape=record…
on “How I discovered CCS Injection Vulnerability (CVE-2014-0224)” ↗Start with the basics - TCP/IP Illustrated - Volume 1: The Protocols. Then read RFCs for each protocol, and other 'meta' RFCs on best practices. Then read histories.
on “Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?” ↗I'm absolutely with you on deepening knowledge from books rather than googling. Of course, no one book has it all, but one you might check out is - "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols, 2nd Edition" from Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series. It's a great series, by the way, worth checking every book out.
on “Ask HN: Book Recommendation about Networking” ↗…be around Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum is a good theory book - this will probably answer your questions about flushing etc for down and dirty: Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 (2 and 3)
on “Ask HN: How to learn proper systems programming?” ↗https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_Ch... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP_Illustrated#Volume_1:_T... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Not_Being_Governed
on “Ask HN: What book should I buy for my 18th birthday?” ↗Seconded. He had such a strong and clear style of delivery. But if I had to pick one, it’s a toss up between Unix Network Programming and TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2. Those two books had a significant impact on me in terms of demystifying the network stack.
on “Ask HN: The book that did it for you in math and/or CS?” ↗I always appreciated the clarity of diagrams in TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1: The Protocols.[0] IIRC the diagrams were generated with graphviz using dot, which can output SVG. You can trivially post-process the SVG to alter fonts or other display related attributes as necessary.…
on “Ask HN: Is there a tool to generate binary protocol figures out of a spec?” ↗